Improvement in su rface condensers for steam-engin es



AM. PHOTO-LITHO. C0. N.Y. (OSBORNE'S PROCESS) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NATHAN THOMPSON, JR., OF VILLIAMSBURG, NEV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN SURFACECQND-ENSERS FOR STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 14,932, dated May 20, 1856.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NATHAN THOMPSON, J r., of Williamsburg Kings county, New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Surface or Fresh-Tater Condensers, chiefly applicable to steam-engines; and I do hereby declare that the following description, taken in connection with the drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

In the drawings the sameletters refer to the same parts in all the figures.

Figurel is a section taken through the condenser, showing all the parts thereof. Fig. 2 is a section on the line A A of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is an end view of one half of a condenser. Fig. 4 is partly an elevation and partlya section of a nest of tubes with their oollar,elastic junction, ttc. Fig. 5 is an end view of the saine on a large scale. Fig. G is a section through a large tube ou a large scale as applied by an elastic junction to a tube-sheet.

Fig. 7 is a top View of a ring for clasping an elastic tube upon a collar, thimble, or tube.

Surface condensers of various kinds have been so long in actual use that it is unnecessary herein to make mention of their properties or the advantages arising from their o mployment. rlhe difficulties incident to their use are also well known, three of them being more important than the others. These are, first, the leakage arising from the unequal expansion and contraction of the tribes, which breaks the joints between them and the tubesheet, such leakage causing a mixture of salt water with the fresh, or, if of great amount, drowning or floodingthe condenser; secondly, the firing up of the tubes by deposits of' grease and scale, making them non-conductors and preventing condensation, and, thirdly, the difficulty of removing tubes which are worn out or filled up or coated over by a deposit.

In certain late improvements in condensers attempts have been made, in some instances with great success, to remedy these difficulties, and this, also, is the object of my invention; but I have proceeded in a different manner from those who have gone before me.

Mr. Hall in his surface condenser obviated the first evil by fitting each end of each tube into the tube-sheets and securing it there by a regular stuffing-box and packing. The

great expense has led to the abandonment of his plan. Since then others have devised various methods of joining the tubes with the tube-sheets, so as to admit of play at a greater or less cost and with varying degrees of success.

Now the nature of the first part of my invent-ion consists in securing a tube or a set of tubes united by a single collar to a tubesheet by means of a short tube of vulcanized rubber or its equivalent and a socket or thimble upon the tube-sheet, substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinafter specified.

The nature of the second part of my invention consists in combining several small tubes by means of a collar, to which they are firmly attached when said collar is secured to a tubesheet by some fiexible or sliding` junction, substantially in the manner and for the purposes described.

The nature of the third part of my invention consists in combining with a short indiarubber tube, making a joint in the manner above specified, two or more spring-rings or their equivalents, as hereinafter set forth.

In order to carry out the first part of my invention, I form my tube-sheets with a set of thimbles projecting vfrom their surfaces, through a hole in cach of which is passed a tube or a collar of a set of tribes in such a manner that when the tube is in place in each tube-sheet its ends shall project for a short distance beyond the greatest projection of the thimble. I then take short lengths of india-rubber tubing or its equivalent a little less in internal diameter than the outside of a collar or condenser-tube and force it over them and the thimbles down to the level of the tube-sheet, or nearly so. In this manner the spring of the elastic tube makes its interior surface adhere tightly to the peripheries of the condensing-tube or the collar thereon and the thimble forming tight joints therewith, while its elasticity in the direction of its length permits the condensing-tube to slide out and in for a short distance, but fully sufficient to compensate for the expansion or contract-ion of the condensing-tube, or for any practical variation of distance between the tube-sheetsarising from expansion or contraction of the shell of the condenser. It is possible, however', that the condensingtubes might tend to creep in one direction, finally releasing themselves from one or the other of the elastic junction-tubes, or that the pressure of the condensing water, if it should act on the inner surface of the j unction-tubes, might overcome their elastic force, and in either event a leak would be the consequence. I therefore intend usually to groove the exterior surface of the collar or condensing-tube where it projects beyond the thimble and to make similar recesses in the exterior of the thimble. The tube Will by its elasticity conform in a measure to these depressions, thus obviating to a certain extent the danger of creeping; but in order to make sure on this head, and also to counteract to a certainty the pressure of the water, I force over the outside of the elastic tube split elastic metallic rings, which compress it into the grooveson either the collars or the thimbles. As an equivalent of this latter device, it may sometimes be expedient to bind thin wire around the elastic tubing, securing the ends thereof in any usual manner.

In condensers when in actual use there is but little difference between the expansion and contraction of tubes in the same neighborhood. Four, five, or more tubes in the same vicinity may therefore have a common stuffing-box or some device serving the samej purpose, thus greatly lessening the expense without increasing the danger of leakage. I have therefore contrived the plan of brazing or attaching otherwise several tubes to the interior of a single collar and then making the joint between that collar and the tube-sheet by my elastic tube and thimble or by some other device. rlhis plan becomes of special importance when tubes of very small bore are employed, as the expense of a separate elastic junction for each tube would in the aggregate be enormous. Small tubes are, however, much more efficient and practical than largerones7 lirst, for the reason that they expose greater surface ina condenser of the same area; second, because they can be made very short, as the condensing water in them soon heats up; or, if the steam enters them, itsoon eondenses. Short tubes are more advantageous than long ones, as they expand and contract less, are more easily cleaned, and are more easily removed when worn out and replaced by new ones. My plan, therefore, of uniting several tubes solidly to a single collar and then securing such a collar to the tube-sheet by an elastic tube or some device permitting of expansion and contraction without leakage enables me to employ small tubes and attain all their advantages at a cost not exceeding the ordinary arrangements of large tubes. The number of tubes secured in a single collar may vary, so may their cross-section; but I prefer the use of from four to seven with such a shape as shall nearly fill up a cylindrical collar when they are properly packed. If steam be admitted outside of the tubes and water passed through them, which is the arrangement I prefer, the interstices between the tubes may be very small or narrow. lVhen the water is out-side of the tubes, these spaces should be larger. As I generally intend to use upright tubes (although they may lie at any angle) and as the weight of these tubes might as well be taken off of the elastic tubing, I intend at times to enlarge the upper collar upon each set of tubes, so that it may rest as a flange on the thimble and thus sustain the weight of the tube. I moreover intend, usually, toapply my elastic tubingjunction on each tube-sheet; but it is obvious that a very good result may be obtained `by fastening one collar or one end of a tube Vin any usual way, using my plan at the other end only. I wish it distinctlyunderstood, also, that my elastic tube-junction is applicable either to tubes themselves or to collars which unite a set of tubes, although the best effect Will be produced where all parts of my invention are used together; butwhen the junction is used alone it will remedy all ditliculties of leakage and will present a very easy means of removing and replacing tubes.

In the drawings I have represented a condenser in which water is forced or drawn through the tubes, While steam or vapor is admitted into the condenser-shell and surrounds the whole nest of tubes. The steam and water may, however, be made to change places, and the more ordinary plan of admitting steam into the tubes be adopted.

At a a is shown the shell of the condenser, in whose interior are tube-sheets b b, each provided with a series of thimbles c c. The condensing-tubes are represented at (l d, and their collars, which unire them by sets, are shown at ff. The elastic j onction-tubes are shown at g g, with -their elastic metallic rings or binding-wires at 7LI zf. The shoulders or flanges on the upper collars are clearly represented atjj.

The drawings show clearly how the tubes or their collars project beyond the thimbles and the relative position of all the parts that go to make up a complete elastic' junction. Steam enters the condenser at a: sc, and is drawn olf condensed by any suitable means at y, while the condensing water is admitted cold and withdrawn warm by either of the apertures a' ,a All the usual accessories of fresh-water condensers-such as distributingplates for water or steam bonnets for examining the interior, or stays for supporting the tube-sheets again st the dilferin pressures on the opposite sides thereof-may be added to this condenser, but, as they are well known, are not described specially. Neither do I describe the Way of putting the parts together or removing or replacing a tube or a series of them, as any mechanic can see his own way in these matters by inspecting the drawings.

Ilaving thus fully described my improvements in surface condensers, I claim as my own inventionl. An elastic junction of atubewith a tube- 3. In conjunction with an elastic junction such as is herein described, metallic clainping-rings or their equivalents, applied substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed niy name, in the city of New York, on this 28th day of February, A. D. 1856.

NATI-IAN THOMPSON, JR.

In presence of- LoUIs N. GLOVER, JAMES DONAHUE.

CIC 

